The Upperdark

a.k.a. Underland is the first, probably safest and most easily reached level of The Underdark. Uppderdark lies in the first three miles below the surface with thirteen known ways down (and another thirteen secret ways). The area here tends to be affected by events happening in the World above.

13 famous ways down

• The Last Door of the Dwarves - located on the lowest level of Anvil, it is said the dwarves will use it one day to retake what used to belong to them
  
  
• Deepwatch Castle - probably The Dragon Empire’s oldest castle that’s still in use, monsters regularly get to the surface from here
  
  
• The Well of Luck - deep dry well in the village of Helby, the lucky adventures return above with treasures, but in most cases they disappear
  
  
• Hammer’s Echo Caves - located near Hammer Falls, large cave as an easy path being watcher over by an Imperial keep
  
  
• Gorogan’s Maw - one of the quickest ways, but one has to go through the mouth of a petrified demon, where smaller demons may and will attack the travelers
  
  
• The Cryptic Stairs - a spiral staircase made by gravestones and tombs with the ghosts weaving spells to protect and guide those who choose this path, it is mostly used by The Lich King minions
  
  
• The Pit of Justice - a pit found amidst a nameless city’s ruins with three cave entrances at the bottom, criminals of terrible crimes are lowered down with the choice of either starving or entering the caves; one leads to The Underdark, two others to certain death
  
  
• The Oldwall Door - the Oldwall is located in The Dragon Empire - a wall built by an unknown person defending the area against an unknown enemy, magically repairing itself only to a ruin resemblance. It is miles long with only one staircase leading down, with a door at the end, that supposedly leads to another longer staircase; the door opens only once an age and has yet to open in the 13th age - in the two previous ages, adventures returned above with incredible artifacts, in the three ages before, things came up bringing chaos; the door is being guarded, shall these creatures return once the door opens
  
  
• The Wardway Portal - magical mirror hanging in the Horizon and created by a former Archmage, originally connected to the network of magical wards and used as an portal in case a ward had to be repaired; over the ages it got inaccurate and now it teleports its users somewhere in The Underdark
  
  
• The Undermarch Door - located at the Undermarch road between Anvil and Forge, heavily guarded, but is regularly opened to traders and visitors from below. Being under the The Dwarven King’s direct control, a share of treasure is demanded. A possibility of smuggling through the door exists, but it is not advised
  
  
• The Garden of the Silver Parade - a labyrinth of thorn bushes covered in dewy spider webs that belongs to The Elf Queen; taking the correct path teleports one to the center of the Domain of the Silver Folk, a matching garden above in Heluhelkis allows travelling from the surface as well; taking the wrong path on the other hand sends one to other locations
  
  
• Giantsgate Keep - a castle that keeps watch over and entrance to The Underdark, formerly an Imperial fortress that was taken over by giants, who occasionally threaten to unleash monsters from below to the surface
  
  
• The Maelstrom - the only path down below that can be found in the seas and of one of the most dangerous; a whirlpool swallows ships or sends them towards hidden rocks, a skilled sailor can dodge them and use the currents to sail their ship through the Maelstrom into The Underdark., supposedly
  

13 secret ways down

• The Unraveled Dungeon - a labyrinth of monsters and traps that rose to the surface, leaving many corridors behind; it appears to be a small dungeon with few rooms and one door, that guards stairs leading deep down below

• Highrock Stairs - an entrance hidden under Drakkenhall’s ruins, heavily guarded by the Blue (see The Three)

• The Prince’s Portal - rumors say that The Prince of Shadows owns a magical door that leads to the Underdark, the door can move to any place in The Dragon Empire and can be used by thieves running for their life, not knowing the door can lead them to their death

• Imp’s Ear Road - a tunnel in the Imp volcano going all the way to The Underdark; the wrong paths end up in lava lakes, while the correct one go above them

• An Unremarkable Pile of Stones Near New Port - once going through the cracks, one has to crawl though a small tunnel all the way in the darkness for about ten miles

• The Temple of Obsidonus - Obsidonus, minor Dark God, has a secret temple in Santa Cora; in a forbidden ritual Obsidonus projects the minds of his followers into enchanted obsidian statues in the Underdark, those of strong wills could join and then take control over the statues (nobody said anything about how to get back to your body though)

• The Great Glitterhaegen Drainage Manifold - building in the sewage with drains going down to a point they connect to a tunnel leading to The Underdark; it’s not clear why

• Selkies’ Lament - there’s an island in the Midland sea that is haunted by sea-witches able to turn into a seal; the island contains many ponds, one of them having its bottom very far down. The Selkies know a water-breathing spell and are willing to trade for sharing it

• The Burrows Door - the gnome town called Burrow has The Underdark entrance beneath it, the door may or may not have a magical ward to make sure there are no monsters attacking the town

• The Words of Moha - in the past age there lived a wizard Moha obsessed with the world below to a point he summoned an earth elemental, that would, bound to serve him, carry him straight to The Underdark after a word of command was spoken; with the wizard presumably dead, the elemental still exists and carries anyone who speaks the words of Moha - too bad only the command itself survived over the years, so the elemental drags them somewhere into The Underdark and only there, not back

• The Bonecrake Tower Cellar - a ruined fortress with a kobold tribe inside, easy to take over; that is what the tower looks like, but it is actually the front line in a surface invasion and those who dare to disrupt it will be captured, tied up and sent to The Underdark for interrogation

• A Whole Reliable Tourist’s Guide To The Underdark - cursed book created by a temperamental wizard; the guide works as a reliable handbook offering recommendations, advices, safest routes - anyone who reads the book then dreams about The Underdark and once they wake up, they find themselves there - to their bad luck, the reliable handbook doesn’t prove to be so reliable after all

• That Locked Door in Your Aunt’s House - an old door that was never opened and that was highly adored by you whenever you visited your aunt, feeling the cold and listening to scratching behind it; the door was forgotten until now with the realization that the lady was not really your aunt

Places of interest

→ Abyssal Margins - a two hundred miles long tear in the world unleashing demons, until Great Golden Wyrm blocked the gate with his body, trapped as to not let more of them out (see also The Abyss)

→  Burrowdeep Warrens - said to be one of the safest places, contains a secret gnomish school of wizardry (Arcane Academy); graduates are magically bound to never speak of it, otherwise they get hit with a curse. The Academy sometimes uses adventures for tasks and then wipes their memory. Its president is currently Monpode Croom

→ Domain of the Silver Folk - located below Queen’s Wood both in the Uppderdark and The Middledark, the home of drow holding cities (those located in the Upperdark are Abburth, Baereghel, Charrvhel'raugaust, Ched Nasad, Guallidurth, Haundrauth, Llurth Dreier, Menzoberranzan, Sshanntynlan, Szithlin, T'lindhet and Uluitur)

• Underwood - upside-down forest, the trunks made of the roots from the Queen’s Wood, the silver spider-webs resembling leaves

→ Dwarven Mines - home of dwarves who abandoned Underhome; even though they were claimed by The Dragon Empire, they are under Dwarven Kingdom’s rule, so the mines are used as a haven by those who run from Imperial justice; some mines started to be regenerated in recent years, which means more minerals, but also more monsters - help comes either from adventures or from the Forge

→ Fallen Star Caverns - as the name suggests, a flying realm landed here causing unnatural consequences - overworld creatures roam the caves and earthquakes are on daily order, as the star tries to tear itself from the Known World

→ Forge, City of Memorials - a mountain city, that is inhabited mostly because of poison that plagued other dwarven cities below during the dwarf-elven conflict

• the city is separated in ten districts (Undertown, Ringing Towers, Old Forge, Godstone, Outsky, High Halls, the Square, Great Cellar, the Citadel, the Dwarf King’s Court)

→ Gorogan’s Innards - the inside of the petrified mountain-sized demon, home of smaller demons that crawl out of the beast’s mouth and eyeholes; it is said they live in a corpse, but the truth is the body is only mostly dead - the beating of its heart can be heard through the tunnels

→ The Lost River - even though the river is one of the fastest ways to travel throughout The Underdark, it is not fully mapped, there are explorer’s with different experience with the Lost River and different theories about its secrets

• a monster is said to live in the Lost River, feeding on memories of its victims; none of the survivors was able to describe or even remember the beast

→ Moonwreck Tunnels - the surface of the Moonwreck itself is a tundra often struck by magical blizzards and unpredictable snow; the tunnels underneath are more survivable, inhabited by barbarian tribes, exiles from The Dragon Empire, runaways from the orc invasions, sorcerer cults and other; by going too far south one can get to Cairnwood; no one knows how this place got its name, but theories involve lycantropes or the destruction of the first moon

→ Orc Warrens - tunnels dug by orcs, forming oneself also spontaneously; they contain slime dripping from the walls, toxic and carnivorous gases; Gruumsh, The Orc Lord has conjured a huge network going all the way to northwest, getting too close to Forge

→ Red Dust Exiles - outlaws living the caves beneath The Red Wastes, the descendants of the Imperial citizens that ran below after their home was devastated by the Red Dragon (see The Three); the red dust people (this name given to them because of the red ochre they use as a warpaint) are lead by the Ashen Harpy, that mostly stays in a village called Hide

→ The Rootweb - network of fungi, interwoven roots and tendrils, that connects living trees to each other, those who travel through are within the physical channel of the forest’s very mind; druids learned to shape and channel the power of the rootweb

→ Salt Mines of the Manticore - used to be an enormous prison, where prisoners were sentenced to be eaten by a manticore; with this tradition gone, the entrance to the mine is closed now, with vengeful ghosts and monsters inside

→ Smuggler’s Tunnels - tunnels located around Shadowport, used by criminals to smuggle, trade strange goods; only allies may pass safely, others are welcomed with ambushes and traps

→ Steam Tunnels - name gained because of scorching steam filling the tunnels every few days, as they are located near the volcanoes; possible encounters involve fire giants, flaming skulls or volcano dragons

→ Sunken City of Stormbreak - great city in former times known for its skilled sailors, its lords being secret Wizard King loyalist, plotting against Talaved Man'Draq't'oran, The Emperor; once exposed, everyone is the city was slayed, their deaths offered to The Lich King, who caused the city to sink in its grave; the ruins are now filled with monsters

→ Undermarch - the most important of the dwarven roads, illuminated by oil-fired lamps and magical crystals; there are watch-stations, mostly empty now, even though the dwarves still patrol the Undermarch regularly, and watch-houses, that are still manned; the Undermarch contains old mines, smaller dwarven towns and two great crossroads

→ The Whispering Maze - a natural labyrinth with numerous entrances, the travelers talk about strange, whispering voices that try to show them a way to safety, buried treasures and other desirable places - only some of these voices are truthful though; the maze is home to elementals and gargoyles